Sheng Siong suspended PayNow withdrawals over money laundering fears
The withdrawal service allows users to scan a PayNow QR code at the machines to withdraw cash of up to $1,000 per transaction.
But in early June, criminals appeared to have abused the service to launder illicit funds, causing the supermarket chain to temporarily suspend the service from June 19.
It was restored on June 23.
The scheme was discovered after Sheng Siong noticed large cash withdrawals were made simultaneously from multiple $TMs across Singapore by the same PayNow account on June 18. There are more than 60 $TMs at Sheng Siong outlets islandwide.
When the same account was used to withdraw more cash on June 19, Sheng Siong staff detained the persons who had taken the cash and called the police.
Four males, aged 16 to 23, were charged on June 21 in relation to the scheme.
They are believed to have responded to "fast cash job" advertisements on Telegram.
The supposed job required them to go to the $TMs and use it to generate PayNow QR codes, which they took photos of and sent back to the Telegram group.
Shortly after, the machine would dispense the cash, which they were to take and hand over to another person.
It is believed criminals in the Telegram group were using compromised bank accounts to make the PayNow payments remotely via the photos of the QR codes.
On June 26, the police took two of the accused persons back to $TMs in Sengkang and Tampines.
Muhammad Noraidilsahiq Muhammad Norasif, 20, allegedly withdrew $8,000 from the machine on June 19 at the Sheng Siong outlet in Sengkang West Avenue, where he was taken back during investigations.
Muhammad Noraidilsahiq Muhammad Norasif allegedly withdrew $8,000 from the machine on June 19 at the Sheng Siong outlet in Sengkang West Avenue. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
He faces one charge under the Penal Code for receiving the stolen property.
Muhammad Izz Iryan Mod Ali, 23, was allegedly found with $20,300 that were benefits of criminal conduct.
He was taken to the $TM at the Sheng Siong outlet in Tampines Street 86 and faces one charge under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.
Muhammad Izz Iryan Mod Ali was allegedly found with $20,300 that were benefits of criminal conduct. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
His 18-year-old brother, Muhammad Izz Irshad Mod Ali, is also one of the accused persons.
He allegedly took $4,000 of cash from the $TM at the Sheng Siong outlet in Jurong West Street 42 between June 9 and 13.
He faces one charge under the Penal Code for receiving the stolen property.
The fourth person charged is a 16-year-old who allegedly took $19,500 from the $TM at the Sheng Siong outlet in Serangoon North Avenue 5 on June 18 and 19.
He also faces one charge under the Penal Code for receiving the stolen property.
All four have been remanded and their cases are expected to be heard again on June 27.
Sheng Siong's customer and operations director Lin Zikai told the media on June 26 that Sheng Siong had noticed the abnormal withdrawals on June 18 and suspended the service on June 19.
The service was restored on June 23 after it implemented an additional safeguard limiting the maximum number of transactions per PayNow account to five.
The withdrawal service allows users to scan a PayNow QR code at the machines to withdraw cash of up to $1,000 per transaction. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Mr Lin said before this, users could make cash withdrawals of up to $1,000 per transaction, but the number of transactions was limited only by the PayNow account's limit.
While the default daily limit for PayNow transactions is $1,000, users were able to change it to a maximum of $200,000.
This meant they could make up to 200 transactions of $1,000 each daily.
With the new safeguard, the maximum withdrawal from a single PayNow account is now capped at $5,000.
Mr Lin said: "This case was actually detected by our Sheng Siong HQ office. They realised there were multiple transactions from the same (PayNow) user at different outlets at the same time.
"That's when we contacted the bank and made a police report."
Those convicted of receiving stolen property can be jailed for up to five years and fined.
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